Natixis Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN)

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its stake in Franklin Resources, Inc. (NYSE:BEN) by 19.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,368 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock after selling 4,159 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in Franklin Resources were worth $350,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 102,385 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $2,320,000 after acquiring an additional 4,248 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Franklin Resources by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 381,192 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,681,000 after buying an additional 32,490 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Franklin Resources by 50.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 97,950 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $2,189,000 after buying an additional 32,904 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Franklin Resources by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 600,623 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock worth $12,103,000 after purchasing an additional 113,976 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Franklin Resources by 1,139.3% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 253,299 shares of the closed-end fund’s stock valued at $7,120,000 after purchasing an additional 232,860 shares during the last quarter. 47.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Franklin Resources news, insider Franklin Resources Inc sold 8,467 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.69, for a total transaction of $369,923.23. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 51,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,229,020.11. This represents a 14.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Charles B. Johnson purchased 100,000 shares of Franklin Resources stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $19.08 per share, with a total value of $1,908,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 89,308,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,704,000,303.36. The trade was a 0.11 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 24,024 shares of company stock valued at $1,051,375 in the last three months. Insiders own 24.13% of the company’s stock.

Franklin Resources Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BEN opened at $22.68 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $20.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.73. The company has a market capitalization of $11.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.37, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.63, a quick ratio of 1.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Franklin Resources, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.94 and a twelve month high of $30.32.

Franklin Resources (NYSE:BEN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, November 4th. The closed-end fund reported $0.59 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.70 billion. Franklin Resources had a net margin of 5.48% and a return on equity of 9.62%. Franklin Resources’s quarterly revenue was up 11.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Franklin Resources, Inc. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BEN has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Franklin Resources from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $22.00 to $21.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $19.00 price objective (down from $20.00) on shares of Franklin Resources in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Franklin Resources from $20.00 to $19.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and seven have issued a hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $20.20.

Franklin Resources Company Profile

Franklin Resources, Inc is a publicly owned asset management holding company. Through its subsidiaries, the firm provides its services to individuals, institutions, pension plans, trusts, and partnerships. It launches equity, fixed income, balanced, and multi-asset mutual funds through its subsidiaries.